How the money works

The checkout summary#

Every checkout screen — walk-on, per-game, and party — shows the same summary card:

Subtotal                  $200.00
Sales Tax                  $16.50
Fees                        $9.60
Total Due Today            $76.50
Balance due on game day   $150.00

Each row only appears when it applies. A field with no fees and no tax just sees a subtotal and a total.

Deposit vs. balance#

Total due today is what the card is charged right now. Balance is what the customer owes when they arrive.

The balance is shown on the confirmation page, in the confirmation email, and in both reminder emails (24 hours and 2 hours before), so customers arrive expecting to pay.

Discounts reduce the balance, not the deposit. If the discount is bigger than the balance, the deposit is trimmed so nobody is ever quoted a negative amount.

The three things added on top#

This is where most questions come from. There are three separate add-ons to a booking price, and only one of them is yours to configure.

The booking fee and the surcharge are combined into one "Fees" line on the customer's summary. They're itemized separately on the confirmation page and in the confirmation email.

Sales tax is never part of "Fees." It gets its own line, because it isn't a fee — it's tax. See Sales tax.

The processing surcharge#

Card processors take roughly 2.9% + 30¢ of every transaction. The surcharge is how you pass some of that on to the customer instead of absorbing it.

It's off by default. Ask PBHQ support to set it up — we'll configure a percentage and a fixed amount for your field. Card network rules cap it, so it can't be set above 4%.

The booking fee#

PBHQ's platform fee, added to what the customer pays and routed to PBHQ automatically. Your payout is unaffected by it. It appears in the customer's "Fees" line and is itemized on their confirmation.

What order things are calculated in#

For the technically curious, and because it matters if you're reconciling:

1. Sales tax is calculated on the base amount being charged.
2. The booking fee is calculated on the base amount too — excluding tax, so PBHQ never takes a cut of money you're holding for your state.
3. The processing surcharge is calculated on base + booking fee + tax, because that's the whole amount your processor actually runs the card for.

Pay on site#

Staff booking for a customer can choose "Pay on Site" — the booking is reserved and the customer pays at your counter.

• No fees are charged. No card is processed, so there's nothing to surcharge.
• Tax is still quoted, because tax is owed however they pay — and it's quoted on the full amount, not a deposit, since the whole thing settles at once at your desk.
• The booking sits in "Pending" status on purpose until you take the money.

See Booking for a customer and Taking payment.

Free bookings#

A $0 total skips payment entirely. The booking is created, waivers go out, and nobody is asked for a card. Useful for comped groups, staff games, and free scenario days.

Two different money numbers on a booking#

On the booking edit screen you'll see these treated separately — the distinction matters:

• What checkout quoted and charged. A historical record of what the customer was told. Never edited after the fact.
• "Amount Collected" — money that actually changed hands, including anything you took by phone or at the counter. This is the one you update.

"Amount Due" is the difference. See Taking payment.

Related#

• Gear deposits
• Sales tax
• Getting paid
• Taking payment